Oil seal



Jan. 30, 1940.

W. J. CHIEVITZ OIL SEAL Filed Oct. 18, 1937 Patented Jan. 30, 1940 2,188,855

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE OIL SEAL William J. Chicvitz, Canton, Ohio, assignor to The Timken Roller Bearing Company, Canton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application October 18, 1937, Serial No. 169,555

3 Claims. (Cl. 288-19) This invention relates to devices for preventing ter adapt itself to the surface of the inner memthe escape of oil or grease from bearings. The ber 13. prlncipal object of the present invention is to By the arrangement described, the ring 2 is devise a seal of simple construction which will be ted n t e groove l in the Outer member C 5 easy to mount and replace, which will be eflicient by merely. compressing the ring radially and in operation, which will not require as accurate forcing it endWiSe in the bore of the Outer ining' of associated parts as has heretofore her until it reaches the groove I and seats itself. been usual, which will be resistant to heat, acid, automatically therein y p di p y water, grit and dirt, and which will be flexible back to its unsprung condition; and, in like manthroughout a wide range of temperature; The ner, the ring is slipped over the inner member 10 invention consists in the device and in the com.- B, its nn r iame r in stretched ie y binations and arrangements of parts hereinafter o e pu posedescribed and claimed. It is noted that the deep grooving or Z-shape In the accompanying drawing, wherein like section of the ring 2 enables the ring to accomreference numerals refer to like parts wherever modate itself with great facility to h parts With 15 they occur, which it is associated in practice. For instance, Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a when the ring 2 is pulled onto the inner member sealing ring embodying my invention shown in B, its inner peripheral portion is stretched sirconnection with a bearing interposed between cumferentially and the side walls of the grooves 3 relatively rotatable inner and outer members; are bent or folded towards each other about the 20 and bottom walls of the grooves, the force required Fig. 2- is a central longitudinal section through for such stretching and ng bein much less the sealing ring shown in Fig. 1. than would be necessary to compress a solid ring In the construction shown in Fig. 1, A repreof the same material to the same extent. Thus,

sents a taper roller bearing interposed between the ring may notonly be made with an outside di- 25 relatively rotatable inner and outer members B I amete oug larger than its a to insure the and C, respectively. requisite frictional engagement therewith, but it B According to the present invention, a wide may also be so made that its inner surface will groove l is formed in the bore of the outer make a sliding oil tight engagement with the in- 3 member C beyond the bearing A. In this groove ner m r B Without creating any substantial is mounted a sealin ring 2 of l ti t i l frictional resistance to the rotation of either the whose normal diameter, namely, the diameter inner 01' O ter membe The g 2 c adj st thereof when not under stress, is, greater than itself mat ally o eccentricity y din the diameter of said groove. Consequently, the springing the relatively narrow and q e ring 2 must be compressed radially in order to Web 5 of material between the tWO grooves 35 reach its seat in the groove. When seated in The material which I contemplate u n r the groove, the ring 2 is still under radial comm king the l tic r n f F 1 is e treated r pression and fastens itself in the outer member C or Synthetic ljllbber Such as those known by frictional engagement t t tt f the der the commercial names of Thiokol and Neogroove In the unstressed condition f the prene. These materials are not only elastic but 40 ring, its entire inner surface is of smaller diameare resistant to the heat generated by the seal ter than the outer diameter of the inner member mg device and to the heat to which such device B around which it slid is exposed in service, and they are resistant to d water grit and dirt and they maintain their The sealing ring 2 of Fig. 1 is thick longltur dlnally and of considerable radial width between flexlblhty and elastlclty throughout the range 40 its inner and outer surfaces. It is provided in its 2 r i gi z iggggg g? igg g 2 of Fig 1 opposite end faces with deep annular grooves 3 that it is of very simple construction, made of a that are spaced apart radially, one of said grooves ingle piece, easy to apply and makes a good fit being djacent to the outer perip and the throughout a considerable range of sizes of the 50 other being dja t the inner p ph ry. and parts with which it is associated. the n r p rti s of t r s ver app or My invention is applicable to bearings generalextending past each other so that, in cross-secly. Obviously also the parts may be so designed tion, the ring is Z-shape. Shallow grooves 4 are that the device will be held fast frictionally to formed in the inner surface to enable it to beteither the inner or outer member, as desired. 5?

What I claim is:

1. The combination with two members having concentric surfaces, one of said members being rotatable, of a sealing device therefor, said device consisting of a thick and radially wide ring of elastic material which has an annular groove in the bore thereof and annular grooves in its opposite faces at different distances from the axis of the ring and with their inner end portions overlapping, theouter portion of the ring being contracted beyond its unstressed diameter and held to the outer member by frictional engage- 'ment therewith and the inner portion of the ring being expanded beyond its unstressed diameter and making a sliding contact with the inner member, and the portion of the ring radially between said face grooves being free to flex transversely of said face grooves to afford freedom for limited relative movement of the inner and outer portions of the ring.

2. A one piece oil seal consisting of a relatively thick sealing ring of elastic material having deep anular grooves in its opposite faces at different distances from its axis whereby the radial dimension of the material may be decreased without excessive compression thereof.

3. A one piece oil seal consisting of a relatively thick sealing ring of elastic material havingannular grooves in its opposite faces at different distances from its axis and with their bottom portions overlapping in the axial direction whereby the portions of the material opposite the bottoms of the grooves are enabled to bend so as to narrow the radial width of the material without excessive compression thereof.-

WILLIAM J. CHIEV TZ. 

